The Forgotten Writer

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Supporting Fellow Writers

Sorry, I’m behind on my blog post today. I’m going through some personal issues right now that are impeding my writing abilities. It sucks, but I’m going to try and push through it so I can get this chapter done.

Today I want to talk about supporting my fellow writers. I always try to read other writers blogs and their stories. If you tell me about your story, and I see you have it posted online – for free or I have to pay for it – I’ll read it. I truly enjoy reading other writers stories, epically a writer that I talk to. Recently, I watched a video on the 5 best ways to improve your writing. One of the things mentioned was to join a writers group or befriend another writer who can review your work. I used to belong to two writing groups on Wattpad, however; one group turned very dramatic due to a difference of opinions. Simply put, two of the writers there made a point to attack other writers who didn’t share their beliefs – it didn’t end well.

Next, I joined a book club on Wattpad. Now, this was my first book club, and I noticed a trend happening amongst the writers: they were always praising each other’s work. I had experienced something similar in the fanfiction community where a group of writers – who called themselves the elite – praised each other and brought those outside their group down.

Many of their comments were:

Fellow x,y,z, they are the best writers!

We are the elite writers!

Other comments I saw were:

All these writers are my friends and they write the best, go follow them!

I was thinking: is this actually promoting a good story and not just their friends? It’s truly hard to say.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that supporting each other is great, especially if your followers and readers show a mass audience, but it got cocky.

Despite one’s level of writing or fandom, I will always support the writer. I urge other writers to just be mindful when praising someone. Praise is good, but please don’t make other writers feel isolated or less worthy of the written word. We all want to improve our skills and support one another, so please be mindful of those around you 😀

What are your thoughts on this topic? Also, I will reply to all the comments from my other post =) Thanks for being such wonderful, passionate readers and writers!

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9 thoughts on “Supporting Fellow Writers”

All I can say is amen! Writing groups are important but you need ones that really support you, and give you constructive criticism.

I joined a writing group during college and they weren’t that serious about writing so I ended up not staying. But I did notice a trend of people wanted to be better, or thinking that they were better in the group. It never got extraordinary dramatic such as your groups, but I didn’t mind not going back.

Now that I am back, living at home that is, I have joined a community writing group. Have yet to go to a meeting, the first one is on the 20th, so we shall see if I remember.

Then I have my best writing bud in the world, on my blog known as Texas friend, but she has informed me not to call her that. We teased each other for awhile over it, so call her Lori. She is my constant guide in writing and more often than not provides constructive criticism and ways to improve my writing, without giving too much praise or doubt in your writing. She won’t admit it, but she’s pretty awesome.

I think your topic is a great one, and it’s one that a lot of us writers connect to. I don’t want a much of bologna praise about my novel, tell me the faults and the good sides to it.

So, I’ll read your story and provide any support I can give. And feel free to do the same to mine. I know you quit Wattpad but part of my story is on there. As on my blog here. Writers need to support each other.

I agree with this to a degree. But I think promotion is hard to begin with. When promoting your own work it’s hard to convince someone it’s worth reading without sounding cocky, but when other’s promote work the same way it doesn’t look that way. When friends promote other friend’s work, it can be hard to convince someone you’re saying it from the heart rather than just saying it to support someone, and there’s always going to be that question with that kind of situation.

I think it takes a certain way of saying something for it to come across the right way. I agree that saying ‘they are the best’ is probably not the best way. I think saying ‘i thoroughly enjoyed this story’ and even mentioning a part within the story is better, as it proves you’ve actually read it that way which validates your opinion more. I think another thing that can attract people is mention of what the author is like and how they respond to their audience, so in supporting friends it might be better to say what you think of them as a person too, instead of ‘they are elite’ etc. Honest and genuine words go a long way.

Ah, I agree! Promoting is hard, and it is hard to know if someone is promoting because they genuinely like the story, or are they just helping a friend get ahead. Yes! If you promote, say what you actually read and mention a part of the story that confirms your opinion. Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts 🙂

That is one of the reasons why I didn’t join that site. I do have an account at http://www.protagonize.com, its a collaborative writing website where you can write collaboratively with authors and post your solo works. Usually people have a chance to favore a story, to recommend it, provide feedback (usually detailed) and to share it on their sites. However, you will only start getting feedback when you start commenting and talking to people. I haven’t really used the site in a while, but I learned a lot from those authors and made friends. A couple of them bought my novel.

I’ve never really joined any groups. I think I should though. I haven’t shared any of my original works yet though. I always worry what people think of my originals. When I tried before I never got really good reviews. I was wondering if you read children book stories. I had been writing one and finally finished it. If you know of any good writing groups let me know. Thanks.

I think you should share your original works. You may be surprised how many people like your stories. I don’t usually read children’s stories, but if you would like, I can read your story for you. If a good website for writing groups, I will let you know.

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